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Best Practices
for Renewable Energy Tariffs and Policies

Click on the linked document title to view the individual publication
Regulator's Handbook on Renewable Energy Programs & Tariffs (April 2006) This reference guide for regulators involved in the design of renewable energy programs was written with a specific focus on tariff setting, it suggests best practices for designing renewable energy programs and highlights success stories in a series of case studies. This Handbook is divided into sections that can be read sequentially or referred to individually when particular issues arise. Key issues discussed in this Handbook include: Green Pricing; Check-off Programs; Community Aggregation; Renewable Portfolio Standards; Public Benefits Funds; and Net Metering.
Certificates and On-Site Renewable Generation
(October 2004): This guide is intended for organizations that are considering the merits of buying green power as well as those that have decided to buy it and want help doing so. The Guide was written for a broad audience, including businesses, government agencies, universities, and all organizations wanting to diversify their energy supply and to reduce the environmental impact of their electricity use. The Guide provides an overview of green power markets and describes the necessary steps to buying green power. This guide was a collaboration between DoE, EPA, WRI and CRS.
Tradable Renewable Certificates and Emissions Values: The CRS Perspective on Best Practices in Marketing (March 2004): This report offers a summary of best practices in marketing related to emissions credits and tradable renewable certificates. Specifically, it covers issues related to disaggregation and the emissions values associated with a unit of renewable energy generation.
The Need for Green-e Certification and Verification In an Era of Renewable Energy Tracking Systems (March 2004): This report summarizes the essential consumer protection functions of Green-e certification and verification that renewable energy tracking systems do not perform.

Best Practices in Marketing Green Pricing Programs (November 2003) This Resource Guide contains the recommended Best Practices as expressed by dozens of green pricing program managers and the author. The Resource Guide conveys experiences to date from green power marketers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working to promote green power purchasing. The Guide is intended to serve municipal utilities in improving marketing decision-making, to educate staff as well as consumers on effective methods of communicating renewable energy messages visually and verbally, and to leverage municipal efforts to increase participation in green power programs. It will maximize the success of public utility green pricing marketing efforts by determining what has and has not worked to date in green pricing marketing and why.

Regulator's Handbook on Tradable Renewable Certificates (TRCs) (June 2003): This Handbook is the first comprehensive resource for energy regulators whose decision-making intersects with renewable energy markets. It also features useful information for market participants, environmental regulators and certificate buyers. The Handbook covers the building blocks for the development of a credible renewable certificate market. It provides: "Best Practices" from domestic and international experience with TRCs to date, covering issues such as property rights, net-metering, interaction with RPS and green pricing, rate-setting, banking and retiring, and other related topics. It contains guidelines for the development of certificate accounting systems and guidance to help regulators with salient issues that are sensitive to local conditions.
Green Pricing at Public Utilities: A How-to Guide Based on Lessons Learned to Date (Oct-2002): This report offers public utilities background on lessons learned from public utilities that have implemented green pricing programs and offers recommendations to consider when implementing a green pricing program. The report is based on a survey of green pricing program managers at public utilities combined with advice from leading renewable energy experts on green pricing best practices. The report first provides profiles of green pricing activity at public utilities in the U.S. and offers a list of the benefits of green pricing programs. It then lists best practices on program implementation as indicated by green pricing program managers and industry experts. Best marketing practices are then presented. The report then outlines how to avoid potential pitfalls. The report concludes with several appendices including four case studies and a list of green pricing resources.

United States RPS Case Studies (May 2000): This document summarizes three states' RPS policies: Maine, Wisconsin, and Texas. Each state case study contains information on the historical background, legislative process, regulatory implementation, and the effectiveness of the policy and provides a copy of the actual regulation. In addition, this document contains a summary of RPS design lessons and comparative analysis of different approaches.
All documents (except where noted) are in PDF format. To view them, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded for free from the Adobe website.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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